In a much more intense way compared to what the forecasts announced earlier this week, the rain made an appearance at the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix of F1 from early in the morning on Saturday.
Before the last free practice session of Formula 1 in Marina Bay, the W Series had to stop their action on the track due to the large amount of water that fell on the asphalt of the Singaporean streets. However, FP3 of the Singapore GP started at the scheduled time, that is, at 12:00 p.m. (Spanish peninsular time), but with a red light.
With 30 minutes to go until the end of the session, the traffic light turned green and the riders were able to go out on the track, first with wet and extreme tires and finally with intermediates.
At the end of Free Practice 3, Charles Leclerc set the best time of the session with a 1:57.782 , ahead of Max Verstappen with a difference of 0.526s, the two fastest drivers consistently, alternating the first position on numerous occasions .
Carlos Sainz finished third, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll, positions that are not very representative due to the conditions of the track and that could be repeated in a few hours in the classification.
Esteban Ocon, Sebastian Vettel, George Russell and Daniel Ricciardo closed the top ten places at the end of Free Practice 3 of the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay track.
Results of Free Practice 3 (FP3) of the 2022 F1 Singapore Grand Prix
Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Charles Leclerc | 11 | 1’57.782 | 154.750 | |||
2 | Max Verstappen | 12 | 1’58.308 | 0.526 | 0.526 | 154.062 | |
3 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 12 | 1,58,848 | 1,066 | 0.540 | 153,362 | |
4 | Fernando Alonso | 9 | 1’59.429 | 1.647 | 0.581 | 152.616 | |
5 | Sergio Perez | eleven | 1,59,526 | 1,744 | 0.097 | 152,492 | |
6 | Lance Stroll | 11 | 2’00.373 | 2.591 | 0.847 | 151.419 | |
7 | Esteban Ocon | 9 | 2’00.911 | 3.129 | 0.538 | 150.745 | |
8 | Sebastian Vettel | 11 | 2’01.007 | 3.225 | 0.096 | 150.625 | |
9 | George Russell | 10 | 2’01.010 | 3.228 | 0.003 | 150.622 | |
10 | Daniel Ricciardo | 13 | 2’01.036 | 3.254 | 0.026 | 150.589 | |
see results |
Summary of Free Practice 3 (FP3) of the 2022 F1 Singapore Grand Prix
After a first Friday with a lot of action on the track, the threat of rain for the 2022 Singapore GP became a reality from early on Saturday, that did not prevent Free Practice 3 from starting at its scheduled time, but they did so with the traffic light off, that is, red, preventing the single-seaters from leaving the track.
The weather forecast indicated that the Formula 1 would have a break a few minutes after the start time of FP3, and therefore, both drivers and teams were prepared inside their garages with an eye on the sky, waiting for a opportunity to roll on the asphalt of Marina Bay.
In the absence of 30 minutes to reach the end of the session and after several laps of the Safety Car circuit, the traffic light turned green and the drivers began to go out on the track to set up their cars for a classification also threatened by rain .
Pierre Gasly was the first driver to go out several minutes after the light turned green, with the extreme rain tires, and registered a 2:09.894 that minutes later Lando Norris improved with a 2:09.642.
Max Verstappen was the first to dare to mount the intermediate tire, an action that the French AlphaTauri driver copied, although judging by the times of the other drivers, the track was not yet ready for that type of compound.
Carlos Sainz, in extreme rain, was placed first with a 2:08.662, but that position did not last long, since Verstappen with his intermediates took nothing more and nothing less than 1,790s with a 2:06.872, which would later go down to 2:03,272.
The times continued to drop and more and more drivers were mounting the intermediate tires, in fact, the last drivers to go out on the track, such as the Alpine or the Mercedes, went directly with the green compound.
With 10 minutes to go and all the cars on the track were on the intermissions and the time table was constantly changing, although Max Verstappen was the protagonist, occupying first place almost all the time.
Charles Leclerc was the first to drop below two minutes with a 2:00.983, although he was quickly overtaken by the Dutch driver who changed digits by registering a 1:59.456 with six laps in between. Behind Gasly and Alonso were placed fourth and fifth, behind Checo Pérez.
The Monegasque driver surpassed the Red Bull driver with a 1:58.899, with the rest of the drivers being unable to break the 2:00 barrier. The next to do so was Checo Pérez, although almost two seconds off the best time.
In the last seconds of the session, Leclerc lowered his record to 1:57.782, a time that led the final table, not without fear, since the Ferrari driver reported a strange sound in his engine that set off the alarms. Verstappen finished second, ahead of Sainz and a surprising Fernando Alonso, who was faster than Pérez.